The Director of the Year Award: A Call Lead Better for the Good Celebrating Communities that Make it all Possible
By Dzikamai Bere
“How have I led in my journey? What areas do I need to improve? How do I inspire and empower the next generation of emerging leaders to lead the sector better into the future? If I do not ask these questions and invest time and resources in answering them, then this award will serve no more than feed my ego, instead of motivating me to become better.”
Last week on Friday 25 October 2024, the National Association for Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) awarded me the NGO Director of the Year Award for the year 2024 at an awards night held in Nyanga as part of a three-day NGO Directors Annual Summer Retreat. It was a beautiful moment. I wish to thank NANGO for this special accolade that I value greatly as an acknowledgement by the community that I serve. I acknowledge and show great appreciation to the many community activists who nominated and voted for me. This is not my first award, but it is the first from a local institution in a process that includes local community participation. That makes it special.
But there is another reason why this is special.
Human rights work is very tough. It can be lonely and thankless, especially in the Zimbabwean context where human rights defenders are treated as criminals. Every day we are attacked for defending human rights. Our right to privacy is violated. We are under 24-hour surveillance. Our calls are listened to. Our homes broken into. Our offices are infiltrated. We, ordinary unarmed harmless people, must put up with the full wrath of an armed state machinery, simply for standing up for rights. Three times this year alone, I have suffered ruthless attacks. Among them, the media groups aligned to political hooligans have called me many names, ‘a nuisance’ being one among many. I don’t remember a year in which my dignity and integrity has been attacked more than this year. These attacks can be exhausting. I have deliberately chosen not to waste my energy responding to these attacks, that sometimes come from very unlikely sources and yet the agenda remains the same – to intimidate us and get our eyes off the ball. Getting the community to say, ‘We see you. We acknowledge you. We thank you.’ That is very encouraging. Believe me, I know that the work I do is important. But there is value in the community standing up to say, “We are with you.”
An accolade for defending rights in a context like ours is not an ego booster. It is an act of solidarity. And I respectfully accept and embrace it with humility and gratitude.
I acknowledge the community of human rights defenders in the room on the awards night. Wow. What a crowd! I have never seen such an excited bunch of directors acting like riotous student activists, lifting off the roof, banging tables, punching the air, and shouting slogans. It was beautiful. I acknowledge you all cdes. You shocked me, in a good way and I receive the love. None of us is immune to love.
That evening had many winners. Through it all, I was excited that the ZimRights community featured strongly. ZimRights was a runner up for the Human Rights Defender of the Year, while two of its members Godfrey Dzveta and Namatai Kwekweza had their organisations win in various categories. Godfrey’s Tariro Foundation of Zimbabwe Trust won the Disability Rights Awards. Namatai’s We Lead Trust won the Youth Empower Excellence Award.
Ahead of the awards night, NANGO had asked me to make a presentation on Visionary Leadership: Navigating Organizational Changes and Shifts. In honouring this invitation, I chose to speak on a subject close to my heart, which has been a defining area for my leadership in different civic spaces – ‘Strong teams for sustainable organizational and personal growth and impact.’ (You will find part one of that presentation here https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/strong-teams-sustainable-organisational-personal-growth-dzikamai-bere-rcrde/?trackingId=F60sJL7jc7GFz97cIK0LoQ%3D%3D .)
After my presentation, I spent the evening by the fireplace, chatting with many established and upcoming civic leaders, reflecting on the things I had said, sharing experiences and affirming the importance of civic leadership and how we can become better leaders. That evening I heard so many stories. With permission, I will share some of these stories in later contributions. But what was clear from these stories was this truth: “Everyone deserves to be led well.” These are the words of John C. Maxwell and I believe them. Many young people I spoke with that evening believe in this.
The following evening, as I walked to receive the Director of the Year Award, I felt connected to the community. It was a continuing conversation on civic leadership.
In July 2019, I received the Young Leader of the Year Award from the Presidential Precinct in the USA which was presented by my favourite author John Grisham and his beautiful wife Renee Grisham. In introducing me, John Grisham said, “The struggle for human rights touches all of mankind. No country, no continent is immune from violation of human and civil rights.” It is a universal struggle that ties all of us together. (You can watch John Grisham’s and my remarks here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k2-i9p52WA&t=5s )
That same year, I was appointed as the National Director at ZimRights, my current station. The 2024 NGO Director of the Year Award comes five years later since the Young Leader of the Year Award. And a lot has happened in my life. On the night of 25 October, I reflected on this journey. As many of you who have followed my writings and presentations, you will know that I believe in civic leadership. (see my latest article on civic leadership here https://www.theindependent.co.zw/opinion/article/200025806/civic-leadership-activism-in-the-age-of-rising-authoritarianism )
Earlier this year, in April 2024, I wrote that the work that civic leaders do in the age of authoritarianism, must never be underestimated. The work of civic leaders is important. Without it, humanity would not have stood up to the injustice of slavery and colonialism. Without it, we would not be able to confront the rising tide of war, violence, and authoritarianism.
It is evident in my writings, speeches and in my practice that I take civic leadership seriously. I am deliberate with the strategies I use, and I am connected to the team that I am privileged to serve with. We rise and fall together. We have spoken a lot in different spaces about the shrinking civic space. We have correctly identified some of the government policies and attitudes that are contributing greatly to this shrinking civic space. But we have, many times, not paid attention to the important role that leadership plays in this shrinking space.
Several organisations have found themselves resting on fragile ground, barely making it to the next day but with no idea what the future holds. A dark cloud of uncertainty envelopes the space. Not because of the government policies alone. Having seen the sector grapple with many challenges in the last two decades, I also choose to look at the situation through a leadership lens. The economic situation in Zimbabwe has caused a lot of brain drain. The best of our civic leaders are no longer among us. Many of us, are appointed to positions of leadership on the strength of our activism but not leadership. Local universities do not offer civic leadership training. We are mistaken to think that good activism can translate suddenly to good ethical leadership. The reality, however, is that many of our organisations find themselves struggling because we have not invested enough in developing the area of visionary ethical and competent leadership to weather the storms that we face as a sector. This reality has also become a threat to civic space. The brain drain that takes away the best among us becomes a threat to civic space. It is a cocktail of issues and as civic leaders; we must be frank and honest in how we interpret this.
When NANGO asked me to speak about Visionary Leadership: Navigating Organizational Changes and Shifts, in my reflection I saw that we have a real threat to civic space that we have not given adequate attention. While we reflect and celebrate these awards, I see that the march is not ended. The danger with awards is always creating the false sense of arrival. Thinking that we have arrived.
The very title of my award, ‘NGO Director of the Year’ prompts me to further interrogate what this means for me, and for the sector. How have I led in my journey? What areas do I need to improve? How do I inspire and empower the next generation of emerging leaders to lead the sector better into the future? If I do not ask these questions and invest time and resources in answering them, then these awards will serve no more than feed my ego, instead of motivating me to become better.
In accepting, and celebrating this award, I invite my fellow comrades. Those who celebrated with me in the evening of the 25th in Nyanga, and many others that interact with my work in different spaces. My invitation is that we take this moment to reflect on what we can do to lead better this sector that is so much desperate for survival and renewal. I know that mere activism does not translate to civic leadership. We cannot raise the level of our sector without raising the level of our leadership. And leadership is not common sense. We must take deliberate steps to develop leadership for a vibrant civil society of today and tomorrow. If this award means something for me, and the friends and colleagues who celebrate it with me, it is this. To take up the challenge of leading better, inspiring, and empowering our generation of civic leaders, and building the next, with the confidence that the struggle for a better world is in safe hands.
Thank you NANGO. Thank you, Zimbabwe, for acknowledging the important role of civic leadership in our country. As we fight to protect the civic space, let us fight to develop good civic leaders who will carry on with the struggle to its logical conclusion. We may not see that logical conclusion in our day, but our faith in that future gives us the energy to keep the fire burning.
Dzikamai Bere is a Zimbabwean human rights activist and the National Director at the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights). He is the 2024 NGO Director of the Year. Comments to this article can be send to dzikamaibere@gmail.com
